Black Rose
by jellolids
Summary: Rose's thoughts as the series draws to a close....


This story was written about a year ago. It was my first attempt at fanfiction, actually. As such, I rather like it…..

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_Gluttony's back, asking about Lust. I'm scared. There isn't much I can do; I'm not like Ed. When I was in Lior, Scar used me for his own ends, but at least I helped somehow. I managed to get my people to safety. My baby and I helped Edward. _

_Edward. I hope he was wrong. I want to see him again. I want him to explain what Lira is doing, and what my baby has to do with it. I want to stay with him. I want him to protect us. _

"No Gluttony, you've already had lunch." _Gluttony runs away at Lira's words. I am ice. I can not let Lira's eerie ability to control these… creatures frighten me. Lira is my friend. My only friend. Anything out of the ordinary I can handle, as long as I'm not alone. It just gets worse after I don't see it for a while. Lira sits down next to me. _"Why must I always remind him that you're too important to eat?" _Her fingers trail over my cheek and mouth, and she begins to talk as they continue down my neck and across my collar bone._ "Exquisite. No wonder Edward loves you so much." _Edward loves me? Really? She flips some of my hair back from my shoulder, and then holds my shoulder, like she always does when we're talking, friend to friend. _ "He does, you know."_ I'm happy! Is that why he came back to Lior? To find me? Is that why he tried to help that first time? Is that why... _"And you love him, too." _She says softly, persuasively. I finish my thought, a little dazed.  
I love him like I loved Kayne? _

_I'm in what Lira calls the ballroom The music playing is soft, and it almost lulls me to sleep. I feel like I'm in a trance. Edward is here! I want to run to him, but I do what Lira told me. I dance alone, and then I stop. _

"Edward… I've been waiting for you" _He joins me, looking a little dazed, and confused, like he's entranced, too. _

"Uh, Rose? What are you doing here?" _ I smile, and repeat. _

"I've been waiting… for you… for us. Edward! I love you."_ I whisper, waiting for him to say it back to confirm what Lira told me. But he doesn't. He blushes, and looks uncomfortable._

"You do?"_ He pushes me away from him, from the safety he represents. _"Look, Rose, I don't think you realize what you just said to me. We're just friends!"_ His voice is strained, startled, and uneasy. I look at him, horrified, and confused. What does he mean? Why is he looking at me like that? Why won't he say he loves me?_

_My baby cries, and we both whirl to see where the sound is coming from. _

"My baby…" _ I run to him, and take him from Lira's arms. _"My baby." _ I murmur, holding him close, reassuring him, and trying to find the answers to my questions in the familiar feel of my baby in my arms. Why won't Ed say it? _

"You couldn't give her one little dance? Seeing as how she's been waiting here since she came into hiding. You're despicable." _Lira says. I know that tone of voice. It means she is not happy. She wants Edward to say he loves me, too, like any friend would. _

"Lira, why'd you bring Rose to this place?" _Edward asks slowly, something simmering beneath his voice. I can't tell what it is. Is he angry? _

"Before Dante died, she told me about a city, that only old alchemists knew about. I thought it sounded safe." _Lira moves forward as she speaks, circling slightly. Edward turns with her, his eyes never leaving her face._

"I know you said before that Dante had been murdered, but you were awfully vague, and you never told me who did it, or why." _Edward says, his eyes still locked on her face. _

"That homunculus named Greed killed her. I could have sworn I told you that." _Lira answers quickly. Why do I think she answered too quickly? And who are Dante and Greed? Edward's eyes narrow. Now I'm sure. He's angry. _

"You're lying to me." _He says flatly. _

"Am I?" _Lira asks innocently._

"The transmutation circle in Dante's mansion was designed specifically to drain a homunculi's power. And the human remains that were Greed's weakness were laid out in the same room. Even if he wanted to, Greed couldn't have made a move against her." _I gasp. Is he saying that… LIRA killed this Dante person?_

"That's all very interesting," _Lira says with a nervous tinge to her voice _"But I saw her corpse with my own eyes." _I relax. Of course Lira didn't kill Dana, or whatever her name was. She wouldn't do that! _

"That proves nothing" _Edward breaks in _"Except that the body she was squatting in could no longer serve its purpose." _I'm confused. What is Edward talking about? What does he mean "the body she was squatting in?" It's not like this person was living in someone else's body! _

"What?" _Lira laughs slightly. I frown. She understands what he's saying? That laugh- I've heard it before. The first time Scar asked her what she was doing in Lior, and didn't believe she just wanted to help us. But she convinced him, and she will convince Edward. Then she will tell him how cruel he's being, making me wait to hear him say that he loves me. Then- _

"Let's say the Philosopher's Stone could be used to jump from one body to another. That would make a human capable of living for hundreds of years." _Lira's frowning now. I haven't seen her do that before, no matter how annoyed she was. She must be furious. It's as if Edward- no. It can't be true. Edward CAN'T be right. Lira CAN'T be…_ "I think Dante faked her death and used the Stone to take over a younger body. A body like YOURS would be the right fit." _Lira's eyes close for a moment, then she opens them. I can almost make out tears in her eyes, but not quite. Is that because she's far away, or… because she's acting? Is the one friend I have left a…. murderer? _

"Edward, stop it! It's not true!" _She begs. I have to wonder, should he believe her? Should I? Or is she lying to him? To me? The music stops as Edward claps his hands together, and throws his left hand to the floor. He draws a spear up from it. Is he really going to- _

_Edward throws it. Lira's frown is back, and she claps her own hands, and out her right palm. The spear evaporates into thin air. My jaw drops. This is… this is even more frightening than the time Edward made the great statue of Leto move out of the temple in Lior! _

"That was too close." _Lira says coldly. _

"When did you see the gate?" _Edward asks through clenched teeth. _"That's the only way you could transmute without a circle, and Lira couldn't do that before! Your secret's up… Dante!" _Edward yells. I stand here, holding my baby, wanting to run away. I may not understand exactly what they're talking about, especially not that bit about a gate, but Edward's proven that my friend, my last and only friend, is not who she said she was. The girl I thought I knew must be…. must be… dead. Because of Lira. No, not Lira. She isn't Lira. No matter what she told me her name was, I know it's not true. What did Edward call her? Dante. Lira is dead. Because of Dante. _

_No! I scream to myself. Edward's wrong! He has to be! Lira can't have done this! If she did…_

_If she did, I'll have to walk alone. And I don't know if I could do that, and carry my burden. I don't think I could, not after the soldiers. And I couldn't just shut down. I would have to keep going. For my baby. I can't do that alone! Lira has to be Lira! She can't be this Dante person, who is DEAD! Lira can't…. She can't…. Be anyone other than Lira. She can't leave me alone. _

_But Edward's here. He could take care of me. I don't know if he would. I trust him, but would he realize? He didn't understand that he needed to tell me he loved me, and not try to hide it. Or is what Dante told me another lie, and he never loved me, and that I made him uncomfortable by throwing myself at him? _

_I turn away, holding my baby more tightly to my chest. No. That thought, like Edward, has to be wrong. _

_Lira smiles. _

"When did you find out, fair son of Hohenheim?" _My heart stops beating for a moment. It's true. This isn't Lira. I never knew the girl who was Lira. I know Dante. I've put my trust in her. And there is no turning back for me. _

"So it's all true." _Edward says, almost sounding defeated. As if he had wanted to be wrong as much as I had wanted him to be. Why? Was it that Hohenheim person Lira- Dante- mentioned? _

"Indeed. Every last word." _Dante gloats. Why is she so happy? She should be horrified that we know! _

"So how many times have you jumped bodies?" _Edward asks, teeth clenched, like he's sick with his fascination in her life._

"Well, in four hundred years you can lose count." _Dante says with a smile. I turn my face away from her. I can't look at this, this nightmare I thought was my friend. Something inside me is screaming, telling me to run, and take my baby, but I can't. Even if Dante doesn't give a damn about me, she and Edward are the only people I have left, and more Dante than Edward. _"It's less than ten, after all, I had to use the Philosopher's Stone each time"

"And that's what happened to the city." _Edward sounds truly sick now, and furious, like something horrible happened in to the city. I don't understand. It's just underground… _"Lives for the Stone!" Lives for the stone? She did to that city what Scar did to the soldiers in Lior? Oh, Leto! I thought she was my friend. She still is. She's all I have!

_And that scares me. _

"Don't forget the fabled lost civilization in the East. It was the same. But I'm not the one who made it happen." _She adds this last bit with a touch of sternness, and she smiles maliciously. She knows this will hurt Edward. But why? Edward clenches his jaw. This does hurt him, but it's almost as if he expected it. _

"No, it was Hohenheim of Light." _That name again. The reason I thought Edward wanted to be wrong. Who is he? _

"You say it so formally! Why not just call him 'Dad'?" _Dante asks sweetly. _

"Did he live this way to?" _Hatred courses through Edward's voice, but I think I understand. "Son of fair Hohenheim". "Why don't you just call him 'Dad'?". This Hohenheim person is Edward's father. He may not like him, but Edward didn't want to believe his father was like that. That because his father was like her, HE must be like her, too, somehow. _"Stealing bodies, creating wars? And for what purpose?"

"Because we were worth it!" _Dante says with cold pride. My insides are freezing slowly. This is the person I am allied to, this is all I have left. This monster. Before, I might have counted on Edward to save us, but after what I said to him, because of Dante's lie, I can't do that. He should be reluctant to save us, because of the pain and embarrassment I've caused him. _

"What the Hell is that supposed to mean? You ruined thousands of lives to create each Philosopher's Stone, then you take it for yourselves so you can live longer. And you actually think that's justified?" _Edward is furious, and I don't blame him. I would be too, if I wasn't turning myself to ice, so I don't have to hear anymore. I can't hear anymore about what Dante's done. I have to stay with her, for my baby. _

"Humans can't handle the Stone-" _Dante begins, but Edward cuts her off. _

"Right. So you have the _mercy_" _he spits out _"To take it from them! The grace to kill anyone who was involved, so only the legend remains!"

"I'm glad you understand so well," _Dante says smiling coldly with a touch of malice. _"Humans are controlled by their sins. And the Philosopher's Stone has power far greater than any weapon ever forged! So I've taken cities. Humans would destroy the world. The lives lost have been necessary martyrs, saving mankind from itself. I am the Guardian, the Shepherd of Sins. I have to live on, to prevent you humans from doing something foolish with the Stone." _I believe her. Look at what happened in Lior. Look at what happened in Ishbal. Look at what's running our country: military. War. Blood is being spilt, people are dying, entire nations are destroyed. Maybe she does have to live on. This justification, would it ring hollow if I didn't need reassurance so much? _

"Don't kid yourself! You're human, just like us!" _Edward yells. _

"Not anymore." _Dante's voice sounds almost hollow. Immortal, maybe. Or is it my imagination? _

"LUST!!" _Gluttony barges in screaming. Edward turns, and sinks into a fighting stance at the sight of him. _ "Lust, where are you? Ahh-"

"You're breaking my heart, Edward," _Dante breaks in smoothly, covering Gluttony's wails of anguish. She's almost next to me. Edward turns toward her. Towards me. _"Talking to me this way. I was looking forward to taking her body, and being loved by the son of Hohenheim." _I am ice. She does not affect me, even though my heart and head are screaming at me in terror. Who would look after my baby? They want to know. I know something, though. Something that I would never admit. If letting Dante take over me was the price in Edward's Equivalent Exchange for Edward's love, I would do it in a heartbeat. I love him, even if he does not love me._

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This is episode... it's 48 or 49, I can't remember which, of FullMetal Alchemist from Rose's point of view. Yes, the dialogue is correct. I wrote this with headphones on while watching the episode on my computer, constantly going back to make sure it was. Not fun for the longer speeches, let me tell you.

All dialogue and characters are copyright of whoever wrote FullMetal Alchemist.

Let's get something straight:  
No, Rose is not my favorite character. She annoys the H-E-double pocky sticks out of me, actually. I chose to write this from her point of view, because I had a title I liked for it, and because she's a character with so little developement, if I could screw up and not get killed!


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